


the day we fell in love

by zach_stone



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Falling In Love, Love Confessions, and everything to do with my undying love for these two girls, set during The Stolen Century, spoilers up to the beach episode, this has nothing to do with the episode that just came out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-14
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-01 22:38:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11496201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zach_stone/pseuds/zach_stone
Summary: Lup and Lucretia fall in love. It's as simple as that.(a handful of snippets through time during the Stolen Century)





	the day we fell in love

**Author's Note:**

> i thought i wasn't gonna write any more taz fics, but then lupcretia appeared and what can i say? i'm love with both these ladies and i want them to smorch. 
> 
> i've been slowly working on this one for a little less than a month, and i really hope you guys like it!!!!
> 
> (if u are wondering, [this](http://foxaes.tumblr.com/post/159014012931/how-could-i-not-also-doodle-lup-i-fucking-love-her) is p much how i picture lup and [this](https://glowbat.tumblr.com/post/159624791131/the-lonely-journal-keeper) is roughly how i picture lucretia)

_ YEAR 0  _

 

The Institute of Planar Research and Exploration provided their employees with a fine dormitory to stay in during their training and preparation for the mission at hand. Everyone got their own suite rooms, and there was a cafeteria open pretty much all day and night. If there was one place Lup knew she’d find her brother, it was the cafeteria. He was always in there pestering the staff to let him back into the kitchen and show them what “real food tastes like.” Lup liked to egg him on whenever possible. 

When she got to the caf, though, Taako wasn’t there. At first glance it seemed that no one was there at all, but then Lup spotted Lucretia sitting at a small table in the back, two notebooks open, both hands busy with writing. Her long, almost silvery hair was pulled up, and she had a pair of wire-rimmed glasses perched on her nose. She looked so much older than she was sometimes, a seriousness in her face that went past her thirty years. Right now she appeared to be completely engrossed in her work. 

Lup strolled over to her and leaned her elbows on the chair across from the other woman. “What’s crackin’, Lucretia?” she said. Lucretia startled a bit and looked up, her surprised expression giving way to a tentative smile.

“Hello, Lup,” she said. “Just, you know, doing my job. Documenting.”

“Right, ‘cause this place is really popping off right now,” Lup drawled, gesturing to the empty space around them.

Lucretia laughed softly, setting down her pens and reaching one hand up idly to pull at a loose strand of her curly hair. “Magnus and Merle were in here earlier. They had quite an impressive two-man foodfight.” 

“Sick,” Lup said, nodding. She paused, frowning thoughtfully. “Y’know, we haven’t left yet. Aren’t you just supposed to be documenting our journey or whatever?” 

“It’s all part of the journey, Lup,” Lucretia said simply. “Every story has a beginning. This stuff might seem mundane now, but I think one day we’re going to want to look back on how we started.” 

Lup honestly hadn’t thought of that; she was itching to get out there and explore new worlds, see the planar system like no one ever had before. She couldn’t fathom wanting to reminisce over her coworkers having a foodfight, but there was something endearing about how Lucretia said it, even if Lup didn’t really feel the same way. 

“I guess so,” Lup said. She smiled, and Lucretia smiled back, looking a little embarrassed. She was really pretty, Lup thought. They hadn’t spent a lot of time chatting, and Lucretia tended to keep to herself, but Lup suddenly really hoped they would spend a lot more time together during their mission. She wanted to get to know this woman, who could make something so mundane sound important. “Well hey, don’t overwork yourself before the job’s even started,” she said. “I was just looking for my brother. Wanna come help me pester the shit out of him?” 

“Oh, that’s alright,” Lucretia said, shaking her head. “I should finish up with this. Thank you though.” 

Lup tried to pretend like she wasn’t disappointed. “Okay. Well… see ya around, Lucretia.”

“See you, Lup.” 

\--

_ YEAR 5 _

 

The planet was small, mostly water with rocky islands sprouting up every so often. They’d found one big enough to land the Starblaster on, and Davenport had brought the ship down, and they’d had a look around. There was life here, but the small, bug-like creatures scuttling around the craggy surface of the island didn’t seem to have much interest in interacting with the ship or its inhabitants. 

“Let’s just — let’s just rest a bit,” Davenport had said finally. “We have a few days before the Light of Creation falls, anyway.” They were still so new at this, and even the fifth time round it was hard to comprehend the way they all looked just the same as when they’d left home. 

Lucretia was happy to stay in her quarters in the Starblaster. She was pretty sure Magnus and Barry had volunteered to explore their island a bit more to get a lay of the land, and Lup and Taako would probably end up following them. Last she’d checked, Merle was talking to Davenport in a low, serious murmur outside the ship. Things were quiet, for now. That was for the best, since she still needed to finish up her notes on the last reality they’d been in. 

Flipping her journals open to blank pages, Lucretia closed her eyes and pictured the way the sky had shimmered with iridescence, the floating green and gold orbs that had hung low and heavy against the clouds. She started to write. 

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed when there was a knock on her door and Lup poked her head in. She looked the same as she always did at the beginning of a cycle — thick hair slightly unruly, the sides perfectly buzzed; the smudge of freckles across her nose, a row of rings lining her long, pointed ears. Fingernails short and bitten, the polish black and chipped. In one of her many pages dedicated to Lup, Lucretia had described her as  _ “controlled chaos; you can see the arcane fire in her eyes, in her fingertips, in the way she carries herself, in the way she speaks her mind so passionately. Her spark is catching, igniting anyone who spends more than a moment in her presence.”  _

Okay, maybe she got a little carried away sometimes. If — no, when, she had to believe it was a  _ when _ — they got back to their own reality, and her writings were turned into some sort of book detailing their journey, she’d cut down on some of her more… overzealous descriptions.

“Heya, Luc,” Lup said, drumming her fingers on the doorframe. “Mind if I come in?”

“Not at all,” Lucretia said. Lup walked over and dropped down to sit on Lucretia’s bed, and Lucretia spun her desk chair around so she could face her companion. “Find anything of note out there?” 

“Just rocks,” Lup said, shrugging. She now drummed her hands on her knees. She seemed to want to say something, but didn’t know how to start. 

“I was just finishing up my notes on the last cycle,” Lucretia said, just for something to say. “The sky certainly was beautiful, wasn’t it?” 

“Yeah,” Lup said. Her expression turned brooding. “Too bad the fucking Hunger swallowed it all up.”

Lucretia’s heart sank. That was the hardest part, sometimes, of taking such careful notes, chronicling everything with her keen eye for detail. Knowing that she  _ had  _ to, because in a year the world they’d landed in would be gone, or at the very least ravaged. She didn’t know what to say. 

Lup glanced at her, seemed to notice her distress, and smiled tiredly. “Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t come in here to bum you out.”

“You didn’t bum me out,” Lucretia assured her quickly. Then, glancing away, “So, uh, why  _ did  _ you come in here?” 

Lup chewed on her lip. “I wanted to ask you a favor. Don’t — don’t think I’m stupid, though.”

“I won’t,” Lucretia said earnestly.  _ I could never _ , she didn’t say. 

“Cool beans. So uh, you remember that one time, back at the Institute, when you were writing all that boring shit about what we were all doing before the mission? Like, the random everyday crap?” Lup was speaking with false casualness, but the fidgety quality of her hands gave her away. She was nervous.

“Of course,” Lucretia said. “I mean, I wouldn’t call it  _ boring shit _ , but yes, I remember.”

Lup huffed out a laugh. “Sorry. Bitchiness as a defense mechanism. I sound like my brother.” She cleared her throat. “I kinda bummed  _ myself  _ out earlier thinking about… well, everything we’ve lost the past five years, but especially the big stuff. Home. So I guess I was wondering if I could maybe read some of your notes from back then?”

Lucretia hesitated. There were a  _ lot  _ of embarrassing things in her early notes. Lengthy paragraphs about Lup would be a dead giveaway that Lucretia harbored a crush bigger than their home planet’s suns. “How about I read it to you?” she offered. “I know all the best parts, anyway.”

Lup looked a little surprised at the suggestion, but she shrugged. “Why not? Bring on the storytime.” 

So Lucretia picked up one of her journals and flipped through, all the way back to the first couple of pages. She read accounts of a number of once-ordinary things; team dinners in the caf, Davenport rehearsing his press conference speech in front of a mirror, Lup and Taako bickering over borrowed clothes or stolen shoes, Magnus trying to get Barry to arm wrestle him, Merle falling asleep on the couch and Taako drawing on his face. Both women were laughing by the time Lucretia closed the book, giggles tinged with a sadness for something long gone. 

“Ah, shit,” Lup said, her laughter subsiding, and she rubbed one of her eyes. “Back then… we had no idea what was coming.”

“No one did,” Lucretia said. She set the journal back on her desk.

“You know, I noticed something,” Lup said. “How come you’re not in any of those stories?”

Lucretia’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“You write about the rest of us all the time, but you never mentioned yourself once. What’s up with that?” 

“I guess… I’m there, in the periphery. I’m the one writing the story.”

Lup shook her head, but not like she was disagreeing. It felt fond. “Luc, y’know you’re not just here to document our journey. You’re part of it. As much as any of us. None of this would be the same without you, and not just because you’re writing stuff down. It’s ‘cause you’re you.” 

Lucretia felt her face grow very warm, and there was no way she was going to be able to look her companion in the face now, so she just stared at her lap. Something was blooming in her chest, and she couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face. 

“Thank you for saying that,” she said softly. 

“Just saying what’s true,” Lup said, and there was a smile in her voice, too. Lucretia heard the bed creak as Lup stood up, and then the other woman walked past her, pausing to squeeze Lucretia’s shoulder briefly before she left the room. 

Lup’s words stayed with her, a candleflame of warmth that she kept nestled in her heart.

\--

_ YEAR 21  _

 

Lup had always felt at home in warmth. It was why she favored fire magic, why she loved the two-sun summers back home. She was a sun elf, after all. So to say that their time on the beach planet was a welcome reprieve, well — that would be an understatement. For the first time in so many years, Lup kind of felt like she was  _ thriving _ . There was always sand between her toes, saltwater tangling her thick hair, and she fucking loved it. 

Everyone seemed to be feeling good that year, she thought. One member of their little crew was spending a heck of a lot more time solo, though, and Lup had to admit that her mind was wandering to Lucretia more often than not. Lucretia, who was always wandering off with her big sketchbook, sitting alone on a coastal dune, the wind pulling at her hair. 

Sometimes, Lup considered telling Taako about how she felt about Lucretia. Her brother would laugh at her, because he practically gagged at cheesy sentiments like hearts leaping into throats at the sight of someone’s smile, but Lup couldn’t think of any other way to explain how she felt. So Taako was out of the question, but damn, Lup was gonna lose it if she didn’t tell  _ someone _ . 

One day, late in the year, she trudged up the dune to where Lucretia was hard at work on whatever the hell it was she was working on, and plopped down in the sand next to her. Lucretia used to jump like a jackrabbit when Lup snuck up on her like that, but decades of friendship and now she just glanced over with a smile that made Lup feel like she was filling up with moonlight. 

“How are you today, Lup?” Lucretia asked. She carefully closed her sketchbook before Lup could get a look at what she was working on. 

“I’m living my best life, ‘Creesh.” Lup lifted her arms above her head and raised her face towards the sky. “Kinda wish we could stay here forever, you know?” 

“It is nice here,” Lucretia agreed. “Peaceful. I think we all needed that.” 

Lup glanced at Lucretia, and saw that the other woman was gazing out at the waves crashing in the distance. Taako was out there on his board, riding the waves with style before a particularly big one came up and sent him tumbling into the water. The two women giggled as they watched Taako crest the surface again, spluttering. From down closer to the shore, they could hear Magnus’s loud, boisterous laugh. 

Lup wasn’t sure what possessed her to say it, but she blurted out, “So Taako says Barry’s in love with me.” 

Lucretia looked at her carefully, her face giving away nothing. Damn that woman and her stoicism. “Oh?” 

“Yeah,” Lup said. She was watching Lucretia just as carefully, wondering almost desperately what was going on in the other woman’s head. “What d’ya think of that?” 

“Barry’s a wonderful person,” Lucretia said. “Obviously he cares for you. I mean,  _ personally _ , I’m not really into…” Here she paused.

“Denim?” Lup offered.

“Men,” Lucretia finished, deadpan. They both looked at each other for a moment, and then they burst out laughing. 

“F-fuckin’ shit,” Lup said, shaking her head. Lucretia was looking at her and smiling that brilliant smile, and as Lup’s heart did its familiar leap from chest to throat, she had a thought.

Maybe Taako wasn’t the person she needed to tell. 

Leaning forward before she could overthink it, Lup kissed Lucretia, right on the mouth. Lucretia’s chuckles cut abruptly to an “oh!” of surprise, and then she kissed Lup back. It was all very fast, just a couple of seconds, but when Lup pulled back she felt like she could do a hundred backflips and run a marathon. They were both just looking at each other, a little breathless. Lucretia’s lips were parted slightly, and she raised a hand up to press her fingers to her mouth like she couldn’t quite believe what had just happened. 

The adrenaline was starting to wear off, and Lup was getting the familiar itch to run away from any uncertain situation. Lucretia still wasn’t  _ saying  _ anything and Lup was feeling uncharacteristically frazzled. “I….” She paused, swallowing whatever she’d been about to say and saying instead, “I’ll let you get back to your work.” 

She scrambled down the dune before Lucretia could respond.  _ Now,  _ Lup decided, she needed to find her brother. 

\--

_ YEAR 21, continued _

 

Lucretia found Taako meticulously picking seaweed out of his hair after his rather spectacular wipeout on his surfboard earlier. He was grumbling irritably to himself, but stopped as she approached and gave her a rather forced smile.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi,” she said, folding her hands in front of her. “How… how are you?” 

He raised an eyebrow and pulled another strand of seaweed from his curls. “Oh, y’know. Thrilled by this slime-plant-in-hair situation I’ve got going on.” He gave up and tossed his hair out of his eyes, smile growing more genuine. “So what’s up?” 

Lucretia felt a bit uncertain. She realized that even after all these years, she and Taako weren’t exactly… close. Sure, they were all close at this point, but Lucretia found that she’d spent more of her years hanging out with Magnus or Lup than with Taako. She wasn’t entirely sure how to talk to him. “I need to tell you something,” she said finally. 

“Okay…” Taako said slowly. “Hit me.”

“I like your sister,” Lucretia said matter-of-factly. “Also, she kissed me a few minutes ago. So. There’s that.” 

Taako, to her surprise, laughed a little bit. “Are you like, asking my permission to date my sister? I ain’t her keeper, y’know. Anyway, she already told me. You wanna mack on my sister, consider this my blessing.”

Lucretia felt her face grow hot. “Ha, okay. Thank you, I guess.”

“Man,” Taako muttered, shaking his head ruefully. “Everyone’s falling for Lup around here, seems like. How come nobody’s falling in love with  _ me _ ?” 

“Well, your options  _ are  _ pretty limited,” Lucretia pointed out. “I mean, do you really want any of the boys in our crew lusting over you?”

Taako pondered this for a moment before wrinkling his nose. “Touche. And let’s be real, romance with other people’s kinda out of the question when we know we’re shipping out in a year no matter what. Oh well. Love’s for suckers, anyway. No offense.”

Lucretia chuckled softly. “None taken. Um, so do you know where Lup…?”

“Oh, yeah. She’s by the Starblaster. Please, go profess your love for her so she’ll stop worrying you don’t actually like her back. As if anyone with eyes couldn’t see you mooning over her for the past two decades.” Taako waved her off, seemingly uninterested in this whole affair. 

Lucretia made to move past him, towards the ship, but he caught her arm and she turned.

“Hey,” he said, a rare note of sincerity in his voice. “I know we just said it’s slim pickings out here, but… for what it’s worth, I’m glad she picked you.” 

Lucretia looked down, fighting a smile. “Me too.”

“Alright, go get her. Your heart eyes are making me nauseous,” Taako said affectionately. 

 

Lucretia found Lup on the deck of the Starblaster. She was standing against the railing, staring out at the horizon, the sun drenching her in its golden light. Her bare shoulders were more freckly than usual, and her hair was loose and flowing down her back, nowhere near the bleached-blonde of her brother’s curls but still a few shade lighter from all that time in the sun. Lucretia couldn’t see her face, but she could picture the sparkle in Lup’s eyes, the way her brow would furrow just slightly as she watched the sea churn. 

Lup hadn’t noticed Lucretia come on board, and Lucretia realized this might be the first time in some twenty-odd years that she actually had the jump on Lup, instead of the other way around. She was so used to watching stories unfold, taking notes in her mind so she could write it all down afterwards, but this time? This time she was going to be the one who made the story happen. What had Lup said, decades ago?  _ You’re a part of it _ . 

So Lucretia strode across the deck of the ship and put her hand on Lup’s shoulder, and Lup turned, and Lucretia kissed her. One hand cupped the side of Lup’s face, the other against her waist. Lup’s skin was soft and warm, and after a second or two, her arms draped over Lucretia’s shoulders, and they stood that way for what felt like both forever and not long enough. When they finally broke the kiss, they stayed close, so close that Lucretia could count the freckles on Lup’s nose. They were both grinning, both blushing, both unable to tear their eyes away from each other. It was like they were seeing each other for the first time.

“How long?” Lup asked, her voice hushed, soft, mouth still almost brushing Lucretia’s. 

“You first,” Lucretia said.

Lup’s smile only grew wider. “Okay.” She thought for a moment. “I think it was… our fifth cycle? You read me stories from home. You made me feel better. After I left your room, I just sort of… knew.” She laughed softly. “Your turn.”

“Honestly?” Lucretia said. She was embarrassed, but not embarrassed enough to hold it in anymore. “Orientation day. The moment you walked into that room, that was it.”  _ I loved you even then _ , she thought but didn’t say. 

“Wow,” Lup said. She pressed in close to kiss Lucretia again.

They stayed up on the deck of the Starblaster for a long time, and no one came up to interrupt them. Perhaps Taako had let the others know what was up, or maybe they’d all just sensed it. Either way, it was dusk when Lucretia retreated to her room, pulling out a journal and finding a blank page. She had so many stories, stories of worlds lost and communities banding together in times of great despair. Stories of heroes, of battles, of countless deaths. But tonight, she was writing something different. In her neat, precise script, Lucretia wrote  _ this is the day we fell in love.  _

 

**Author's Note:**

> i'm always still down to talk TAZ, come cry about the impending end of this campaign with me! i'm on twitter @queensuperjelly and on tumblr @joshuawashinton 
> 
> comments are always deeply appreciated <333


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